Experts compared the drinking habits of almost 10,000 men in France and Belfast and found the amount of alcohol they consumed in a week was the same.

However, Belfast men were far more likely to be binge drinkers than men in France, who drank less alcohol in each sitting but drank more regularly. Some 9% of men in Belfast were binge drinkers, mostly on a weekend, compared with just 0.5% of those in France. Meanwhile, three-quarters (75%) of French men drank daily compared with 12% in Belfast.

The authors found that binge drinking doubled the risk in comparison to regular drinking.

Binge drinking was defined as consuming at least 50g of alcohol on at least one day per week.